Lindy West made her name with Shrill, the essay collection that later became a Hulu series, and her sharp, unfiltered voice on bodies, feminism, and pop culture built her a large following well before this new book arrived. Adult Braces is her latest essay collection, and it uses the small, mundane indignity of getting orthodontic work done well into adulthood as a way into bigger questions about what it means to redo things you thought you'd already finished, whether that's your smile, your sense of self, or your relationship to your own body. It's less a how-to guide than a series of personal, often very funny pieces that circle around aging, reinvention, and the particular discomfort of feeling like a beginner again in your forties. West's writing has always leaned into candor over polish, and that hasn't changed here.
Written by the Author of the Bestselling Collection Shrill
Lindy West's earlier essay collection Shrill became a bestseller and was adapted into a Hulu television series, and that body of work is the clearest reference point for what readers can expect from her voice in this new collection.
A Personal Essay Collection Rather Than a Prescriptive Self-Help Book
Despite landing in the self-help and relationships category at most major booksellers, the book is structured as a set of personal essays rather than a step-by-step guide, closer in form to memoir writing than to conventional advice.
Uses Getting Braces as an Adult as a Recurring Framing Device
The literal experience of having orthodontic work done as a grown woman threads through the collection, giving West a concrete, slightly absurd anchor for essays that range much further into questions of self-image and starting over.
Blends Comic Timing With Genuinely Reflective Passages
West's essays move fluidly between sharp, laugh-out-loud observational comedy and quieter, more vulnerable reflection, often within the same piece, which is a hallmark of her writing going back to her earliest columns.
Continues West's Long-Running Focus on Bodies and Self-Image
Body image and how the world treats women's bodies has been a consistent thread across West's career, from her journalism to Shrill, and this collection extends that focus into the specific territory of an aging, changing body.
Categorized as Self-Help Despite Its Literary, Comedic Register
Major book retailers place the title in self-help and relationships, a categorization driven more by its subject matter than by its actual tone, which reads considerably more literary and comedic than a typical prescriptive title in that genre.
A Newly Released 2026 Title With a Still-Building Readership
As a brand-new release, the book hasn't had years to accumulate the reader base of West's earlier work, though early attention from her existing audience and press coverage tied to Shrill's ongoing popularity has given it a strong initial launch.
Why Adult Braces Stands Out Among 2026's Essay Collections
What sets this collection apart is West's willingness to find real comedy in an unglamorous, universally relatable experience without ever losing the sharper, more reflective observations that made her earlier work resonate so widely.
Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Written by the bestselling, widely read author of Shrill
- Blends genuine comic timing with reflective, honest personal writing
- Uses a relatable, unglamorous premise as an effective framing device
- Extends West's consistent, well-established focus on bodies and self-image
- Reads as a literary essay collection rather than a formulaic advice book
Cons:
- Readers expecting structured, prescriptive self-help guidance may be misled by its shelving category
- As a new 2026 release, it lacks the years of reader reviews that Shrill has accumulated
- West's candid, sometimes irreverent tone won't land with every reader
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Adult Braces a self-help book or a memoir?
It reads far closer to a personal essay collection than a prescriptive self-help book, though many booksellers shelve it under self-help and relationships because of its subject matter.
Do you need to have read Shrill first?
No, the essays stand on their own, though longtime readers of the author's earlier work will recognize her voice and some recurring themes.
Is the book actually about getting braces as an adult?
That experience is one thread running through the collection, used as a jumping-off point for broader essays about aging, self-image, and starting things later than expected.
Is the tone mostly comedic or serious?
Both, the author moves between sharp comic observation and genuinely reflective, sometimes vulnerable passages within the same essay.
Final Verdict
Adult Braces works because Lindy West trusts a small, awkward experience to carry a much bigger conversation about growing older and starting over, and her comic instincts keep the book from ever tipping into self-pity. It's not a prescriptive self-help title despite where it's shelved, and readers going in expecting a how-to guide should reset those expectations. For fans of Shrill, or anyone who wants sharp, funny, unguarded essay writing about midlife, this collection delivers.
Rating: 4.4/10